Saturday, February 19, 2011

Lost in translation

Living in a foreign country is like trying to make a Carbonara sauce. It takes time, you need the right ingredients, and make sure to measure quickly but get the flavors right. You may know the ingredients but the quanities may be off.  It is about precision. The same can be said for learning a foreign langauge let alone living in another country. Everyday i find new treasures and explore new possibilities which include finding a massive grocery store under a local department store. taking a day trip to Jaen with some friends, and figuring out that in Spain it is extremley bad luck to give a person just one cheek kiss. You learn these things slowly like a new language, the basc phrases, common principles, bus schedule and the like and you try to apply these skills. Yet now and then some things just plainly get lost in translation. The Spanish humor here is one that i have never known before and especially with its respect to women. The old men you see walking down the street holding onto their feeble withered 80 year old wives who sport a fabulous fur frock to go for a stroll. The younger generation walking with their girlfriend ( perhaps gf of the day haha) grasping tightly their upper arm or hand in their backpocket of their gf to show, "Hey now this is mine". Yet needless to say their humor is different. In spain men often joke about everything its a form of flirting and a huge part of the culture from instances when you walk into a door, your body, your outfit, customs, etc, anything is fair game for what americans would consider a snide comment or snide remark. In the beginning i thought i thought it was interesting and later i felt that i was being over sensitive, but as i grow to see it its actually a part of their culture. This for me is one of those things that just gets lost in translation, as i found it offensive.
This whole process is a learning experience to which has opened my eyes to many things but most importantly the general behavior of humanity with a focus on this culture , and everyday it fascinates me. Somedays it bores the hell out of me and makes me miss the monotonic occasionally sarcastic humor of the U.S, or in dire thirst for a little British humor.
I feel like a good episode of Top Gear (Brisiths version) would be a nice learning tool to any Spanish classroom. Perhaps i will implicate it in my teaching lessons :)

Until then.
Worldly Woman

Song of the day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0pAcwJt84E&NR=1
Feel - Jest juz ciemno

1 comment:

  1. Mmmmm. Carbonara. Nothing like a raw egg to finish off a meal.

    If you can get it, watch "Solo con tu pareja" by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron. Some of the silly differences in another culture's sense of humor can often best be described only in film. This is one such film.

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